"Sad Steps" employs a variety of language, from the colloquial and vulgar “piss” (Line 1) to the more elevated poetic diction describing how the moon has often been regarded in the past by those of a poetic or romantic nature. The poem moves to the more spare, practical, and down-to-earth language in the final two stanzas.

The first line suggests that the speaker is an older or at least middle-aged man who can no longer sleep through the night without at least one excursion to the bathroom. He gropes his way back to bed likely because he has not switched on the light; he pulls the curtains back so a little bit of light can enter. He is rather captivated by the scene he sees: The clouds quickly scud by, so there is obviously a breeze. He looks down at the “wedge-shadowed gardens” (Line 3) which suggests a middle-class area in which people’s gardens are laid out in distinct lots, perhaps with hedges to separate them, giving them a wedge-like appearance.

The speaker does not just quietly contemplate the scene, however. It conveys something to him he regards as amusing. This is in connection with the moon—the dominant element he sees and on which he reflects from his bedroom window.